Fool-Proof Gingerbread Men

As I'm getting ready to start my Christmas cookie and candy making for this year, I've been looking back through recipes I've tried and have deemed "keepers" and searching my favorite blogs and websites for new ones to try.  While I absolutely love the idea and look of Christmas cut-out cookies, for me they are generally an exercise in frustration.  They never seem to roll out easily enough, and my perfectionist tendencies make me never happy with the frosting results.  Not to mention the amount of time it would actually take to individually frost a collection of santas, snowflakes, Christmas trees, etc. to make them photo-ready.  And really, they are just going to get eaten anyway; my first priority is always TASTE!

A couple of Christmas's ago, I finally ran across a fantastic gingerbread recipe on the All Recipes website that met both my citeria of great taste and fool-proof rolling.  Only one cookie cutter is needed, and as you can see in my creation above, they can be simply frosted and sugared, OR you can get out your pastry bag and make them into cute little men with faces.

Here is the link to the recipe on All Recipes...
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/gingerbread-men/detail.aspx

And here is my favorite recipe for cream cheese frosting, thanks to the "Cake Doctor".  Making your own frosting is not intimidating ... once you've tried it, you will NEVER go back to that fake stuff in the can!

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese at room temperature
1 stick of butter at room temperature
3 3/4 c. confectioners' sugar (she says to sift it, I never do)
1 t. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Place cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with electric mixer on low speed until combined, 30 seconds.  Stop, add the sugar, a bit at a time, blending with the mixer on low speed until sugar is well incorporated, about 1 minute.  Add the salt and vanilla, then increase the mixer speed to medium and blend the frosting until fluffy, about 1 minute more.  Now go frost something!